This
section of trail runs from the
GA/TN state line at Double Springs Gap to US64 near the Ocoee Whitewater
Center and is mostly in the Big Frog Wilderness.

Saturday, September 13, 2008:
BMT section 11d Rough Creek -
Rick Harris, George Owen, Gary Smith, Suzanne --- and Jim
--- hiked this section and cleared several trees across the trail and a
lot of brush on the upper elevations. Overall, the trail was in quite
good shape and is now in perfect condition.

Sunday, August 30, 2009:BMT Sections 11d-e. Rick Harris,
Richard Sullivan and Tom Waters cleared 8 trees and brushed out the BMT from
FS45 to the Ocoee River. The we cleared 6 trees off BMT section 11d within
the first half mile of FS221. Section 11d is low logged out all the way to
the wilderness boundary. Volunteer hours for this trip are as follows:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

2

4

6

Tom Waters

2

4

6

Richard Sullivan

2

4

6

Totals

6

12

18

Saturday,
November 21, 2009:BMT Section 11e
- FS221 to Thunder Rock Campground.
Tom Waters, section maintainer, responded to a report of
a tree across the trail with many branches preventing
easy passage around the tree. He went up to the area
about halfway between the campground and FS45 and cut
out branches with a handsaw to make the trail passable
until we can get up there with a chain saw. Volunteer
hours are below:

Friday, July 23, 2010:
Blazing on BMT Section 11e
by Darcy Douglas - Friday and Saturday I painted until
the heat got to be too much. Work hours 10.5, travel hours 7, total
hours 17.5. Painted from the Thunderrock Campground to a little past
FS221. There is a sign there now with 4 other trails listed on it, one
I hadn't seen before. I went a bit down the road which is where the
trail is, after that. Both directions should be well marked on this
section. There are a couple of smallish trees down - the trail was
pretty clear and open except for that. The steps need cleaning off and
some rebar either removed or shoved in farther. There were 2 spots
folks slid down the sidehilling - I saw a sign in the Smokies I liked -
it said "This is not the trail." and was carefully placed exactly where
folks were crossing the switchbacks.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010:BMT Sections 11b-d - Big
Frog Wilderness - A crew of eight
attacked the BMT from FS 221 to the top of Big Frog. One crew of 4 went
up the Big Frog Trail to the top of Big Frog, then worked downhill to a
short ways past the intersection of the Big Frog Trail and the BMT at
the start of the Fork Mtn Trail. The other crew of 4 went in from FS 221
on the BMT and finally met up with the crew coming down hill. About 40
logs were cleared off the trail and the trail was brushed out in its
entirity using non-powered tools since this is all wilderness. Volunteer
hours are below:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

3

8.5

11.5

Ken Jones

2

8.5

10.5

Richard Foster

3

8.5

11.5

Bill Lundin

2.5

8.5

11

John Kalabus

0.5

8.5

9

Ernie Engman

4

8.5

12.5

Kenny Robeson

0.5

8.5

9

Steve Biatowas (USFS)

(0.5)

(8.5)

(9)

Totals
Volunteer Hours

15.5

59.5

75

Monday, June 6, 2011
- BMT Section
11d - Big Frog Area -
James Anderson (section maintainer) and Rick Harris
logged out James' section with chain saw and crosscut
saw on this 90+ hot day. We entered from FS 221 and went
down the West Fork Trail,
cutting out a few small trees, then along Rough Creek
cutting out a couple large trees and few smaller trees.
A third large tree was too big for our one man crosscut,
so we trimmed it as best we could (see picture). It is
very passable, but we will have to sometime make a
separate trip with a two man crosscut to finish the job.
Once we crossed Rough Creek, there were a few extra
small to moderate sized trees we cut out, reaching the
intersection with the Fork Ridge Trail a little after 3
PM. We also threw off many branches and trimmed back
some overhanging branches with loppers. We then hiked
back to our 2nd car out the easy way along the Rough
Creek Road FS 221G where it intersects FS 221. As we
returned to Rough Creek coming down the steep hill, we
heard a lot of loud tree branch-breaking by some
creatures, possibly a couple of bear, though we never
saw them and they never growled or made other noises to
give their identity away. They ran up the opposite hill,
we think. Except for the dead hemlock too big to cut
with our one man crosscut, this section of trail is
clear of blowdowns and generally in very good shape.
James plans to go back in a few weeks and brush out the
trail after the brush has had more time to grow.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

James Anderson

2

7

9

Rick Harris

3

7

10

Totals

5

14

19

Thursday, October
13, 2011 -
BMT Section
11c-d - Big Frog Area - This was the third
day of the 2011 AHS Volunteer Vacation. We put up 5
signs along the BMT in the Big Frog area and did tread
work on the West Fork Trail along the sidehill heading
down toward Rough Creek. The new signs were put up at
the Fork Ridge Trail / Big Frog Trail intersection, the
Fork Ridge Trail / Rough Creek Trail, the Rough Creek /
West Fork Trail intersections (2), and the intersection
of the old road section with the single track trail
along the West Fork Trail. The signs were routed by
Marty Dominy and mounted on 4x4 6' posts. The weather
was off and on sprinkle but overall very tolerable. We
even had periods of sunshine.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

0.5

9

9.5

Steve Biatowas
- USFS

(9)

(9)

Larry Dunn

2

8

10

Jeff Hunter

2.5

9

11.5

David Blount

3.5

9

12.5

Bob Ruby

3

9

12

Rick Foster

1.5

9

10.5

Eric Randall - VV

9

9

Kathy Stege - VV

9

9

Sarah Slover - VV

9

9

Betty Gill - VV

9

9

John Carmichael -
VV

9

9

Tina Stambaugh -
VV

9

9

Bill Twitty - VV

9

9

Totals

13

116

129

Sunday, January 29, 2011
-
TN/NC BMTA Worktrip
SAW-A-THON -
Several groups went to
various sections of the BMT
to take care of specific
problems, as below. The
workers also filled out the
Annual Walkthru Reports on
the sections they covered.
Afterwards, several of us
met for dinner at the
Mexican restaurant in
Copperhill. Fahitas seemed
to be the diet of the
champions.

BMT
Sections 11c-d
- Big Frog Mountain
Area (Ocoee-Hiwassee
District) -
Jeff Hunter, Caara,
and Bill Hodge
tackled this very
difficult job with
crosscut saw. There
were reports of a
big tree across the
trail about a half
mile south of the
Fork Ridge/Big Frog
Trail intersection
which had brought
down some other
trees with it. The
crew spent about 2
hours clearing this
complex downfall
after climbing half
way up Big Frog
Mountain. They also
cleared about 10
other trees off the
trail except for one
tree they left on
the section along
the edge of Rough
Creek, a pine about
18 inches in
diameter. The
branches have been
cleared to make this
passable, but the
trunk still needs to
be removed. Also,
there is a second
tree about a mile
further up the trail
which needs to be
removed sometime in
the future, but it
is an easy walk-over
at present.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Jeff Hunter

3

8.5

11.5

Caara Fritz

3

8.5

11.5

Bill Hodge

2

8.5

10.5

Totals

8

25.5

33.5

Friday, February 3, 2012
- BMT Section 11e -
FS 221 to Ocoee River -
Four of us logged and brushed out this section. It is now in tip-top
shape. We also did the walk-thru report.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

2.5

3

5.5

Rick Foster

2.5

3

5.5

Richard Sullivan

1.5

3

4.5

Tom Smith

2

3

5

Totals

8.5

12

20.5

Saturday, March 31, 2012
- Licklog Ridge Trail
-
Two members of the Cherokee joined with three members of the
Chattanooga Hiking Club and a Forest Service representative to
perform clear underbrush from the Licklog Ridge Trail on the back
side of Big Frog Mountain. After hiking in (almost all uphill) about
2.5 miles, we were able to clear approximately 0.5 miles of the
trail which was very overgrown on the upper end of the section we
were able to work. Since it is a wilderness area the work was done
with loppers and swing blades. The weather cooperated nicely with a
beautiful spring day which afforded us great views off the mountain
of Ocoee #3 lake and the surrounding mountains. We also enjoyed
viewing some beautiful irises and a few trilliums along the way.
This was a great joint effort between the hiking clubs which enabled
some good work to be done on a beautiful trail that had been
neglected for quite some time. I also want to express my
appreciation to the SAWS group (Southern Appalachian Wilderness
Stewards) who had already brushed and logged the bottom 2.5 miles of
the trail and have plans to come behind us and finish the job. They
are doing the vast majority of the work and deserve much credit—so
way to go Bill Hodge and group! We also want to thank USFS employee
Steve Biatowas for his hard work on this trip and what he does on an
everyday basis in keeping the trails in good shape. Enjoying the day
and the hard work were Betty Petty, Donald Box and John Rowland of
the Chattanooga Hiking Club, Steve Biatowas of the USFS and James
Anderson and Randy Morris (reporting) of the CHC.

Saturday, November 10, 2012
- Big Frog Mtn - BMT Section
11b-c -
A total of 10 people, including Sheila Bailey, Randy Morris, and
James Anderson (hike leader) worked on the Big Frog Trail doing some
trail maintenance. Several folks from TN Wild and Steve Biatowas
from the Forest Service also joined us. We brushed out quite a bit
of trail while some worked on trail tread repair. There is still
much to be done, so we are thinking we may have another work day
sometime in January.